I bring to you another Cal Men's Tennis Newsletter. This week we recap the UCSB Invite and the Battle of the Bay and look ahead to our next tournament.
Bayane won his second singles title in as many weeks.

UCSB Invite Recap

Gregory Bayane stayed hot last weekend, capturing his second career singles title in as many weeks. Bayane didn’t drop a set on his way to the Flight A Singles Title and pulled out a tough, close match against UC Santa Barbara’s Axel Bouillin 7-5, 7-5 in the finals for the title. In other singles action, in the B Flight, Wyatt Houghton had an impressive run, including a 7-5, 6-7, 6-0 win over UCSB’s Jake Johnson, to make it to the finals. However, Houghton came up short against Benjamin Recknagel 6-2, 6-1 in the finals earning him second place. Also in Flight B, Jordan Smith lost his first round match, but went on to win two singles matches in the consolation draw, beating Northern Arizona’s Alan Barrios for 11th place.

In doubles action, Bayane and Houghton teamed up in the Flight A Doubles, and made it to the finals with a pair of 8-6 wins over Cal Poly and UCSB but couldn’t keep the run going, losing 8-3 in the finals against a team from Cal Poly. Also in the Flight A doubles, Nikhil Jayashankar and Jordan Smith partnered together. The duo lost their first round match to a team from Nevada, but won their second match in the consolation bracket 8-5 against a team from UC Davis before they had to default in the consolation finals.

Johnson had a great run, winning the singles consolation draw.

Battle of the Bay Recap

In singles action, three Bears made it out of the first round but couldn’t advance any farther. Chris Konigsfeldt, the third seed, won his first round match 6-2, 6-3 against Matt Thompson of Cal Poly, but lost in the second round 6-3, 6-4 to Max DeVroome of USC. Mads Engsted won a close first match 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 against Nolan Paige of Stanford before losing 6-1, 6-0 against Jonny Wang of USC. Riki McLachlan also took down a Stanford player in the first round, beating Anthony Tsodikov 7-5, 7-6 (8), but fell to USC’s Eric Johnson (the fourth seed) 6-1, 6-2. Campbell Johnson had the worst draw, having to face the one seed, Yannick Hanfmann from USC, but Campbell put forth a valiant effort and pushed Yannick to three sets; but ultimately lost 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1. However, Campbell made a great run the rest of the way, winning the singles consolation draw, beating players from Pacific and Stanford on the way to the finals, where he bested Matt Thompson of Cal Poly 6-7, 7-5, 10-1.

In doubles actions, Campbell Johnson and Mads Engsted lost a close first round match, dropping the set 8-6 to Golding and Hamilton from Pacific. The Bear’s other team of Riki McLachlan and Chris Konigsefeldt, the two seed in the draw, won their first two matches against Cal Poly and Boise St. reaching the Quarterfinals before falling to a duo from Stanford in a tight 8-6 set.

Up Next

This weekend the Bears travel through the Caldecott Tunnel to Saint Mary’s to play in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships. The tournament starts on Friday October 19 and continues through to Tuesday October 23. The winners of this tournament receive an automatic bid to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships being held in New York City from November 8 to November 10. Come out and support the Bears and help make Moraga part of Bear Territory.